Tukanoan Women and the Management of Intraspecific Diversity in Manihot Esculenta in the Northwest Amazon of Brazil

Abstract

Tukanoan women farmers, with the highest number of subspecies of manioc (Manihot esculenta) reported, practice a strategem of intraspecific diversification. Women's multiple allegiances and ongoing contact with diverse localities serve as the dispersal routes through which manioc subspecies and knowledge about them pass throughout the river basin. Knowledge sharing and cultivar circulation can be traced to women's marital and kin networks. These findings demonstrate a wide distribution of manioc cultivars, propitiated by rules of examogamy, patrilineal descent, and patrilocal postmarital residence.